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by slg 496 days ago
That July 2017 article you linked cites Volvo committing to switch their fleet to all electrics and hybrids. If you click on that hyperlink you will find this paragraph:

>Of Elon Musk’s Tesla, whose ‘mass market’ Model 3 is expected to roll off the production line later this week, Samuelsson [Volvo's chief executive] said: “It’s a tough competitor. But with this decision we are really becoming the second premium car maker in the world which will also be all-electrified.”

The EU followed France. France followed Volvo. Volvo followed Tesla. Tesla was the spark.
2 comments
inerte 496 days ago
I would say US government and more specifically California was the spark, and the hundreds of millions of dollars given to start this industry.

I am all for it, he took advantage of a program specifically created to be taken advantage of. But I am not sure if it wasn't for the the tax related benefits, carbon emission credits, and the damn HOV lane access Tesla would be here.

But again, amazing! The goal was achieved.

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yodsanklai 496 days ago
The spark was the Paris agreement and Europe pledging to reduce their CO2 emissions. EVs were already a common sight in France way before Tesla.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plug-in_electric_vehicles_in_F...

I think your narrative is correct in the US, but not in the rest of the world.

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boringg 496 days ago
No France didn’t have meaningful ev traction. California and Tesla pushed out the market for EVs. Paris agreement helped Im sure but Tesla really did bring the EV market muscle - its undeniable.

EVs have been around since the 90s but there was a collective effort to restrict their growth and production.

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slg 496 days ago
>EVs were already a common sight in France way before Tesla.

I can't say I'm an expert on French automotive sales. It is possible they have always had a small market for EVs going back years, but there clearly was an inflection point that occurred after Tesla had proved there was widespread demand for EVs with 2020 being the first year that EVs made up more than 2% of new car sales in France.[1]

[1] - https://autovista24.autovistagroup.com/news/france-keeping-p...

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scarface_74 496 days ago
Is 2% what we call “widespread demand” these days?
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